The Avenues Mall in Kuwait
This if for my outside-Kuwait readers; most of the Kuwait readers have already been to The Avenues.
The Avenues is the newest mall in Kuwait, and has the greatest variety so far of shops with names familiar to most malls – Banana Republic, Starbucks, etc. But it has a couple stores with unusual things – one is a Moroccan design store, but everything I liked inside it said “this item not for sale!” Excuse me? What’s the point?
There is an IKEA attached, lots of coffee places, a few places to eat, mostly places you find in Malls – Paul’s, etc., but nothing outstanding. The coffee places are nice for sitting and waiting for friends who are shopping when you are bored or tired, but if you are interested in GOOD food, I think you can do better eating outside the mall.
The mall is vast. The good news is, there is lots of parking, so you only have to think about where you want to be. We were really lucky, as we pulled in, a car was just leaving a really nice spot. You know how you always THINK you are going to remember your spot? At The Avenues, you need to remember the letter, the number AND the color. Probably the S46a comes in handy, too. We took a photo, and it was a good thing, because we thought we remembered very clearly where the car was, and we were mistaken.
Going to a mall in Kuwait is one of the major summer pastimes. When the heat outside is 118 degrees F (48C), you look for places that are well air-conditioned. We found places in the mall where the air conditioning was working so hard it sounded like being in a wind tunnel!
As for shopping – the quality of the clothing is not the same as you find in the same stores elsewhere. Prices are high, and even when they mark them down, it is hard to think of most of this clothing as a good value for the money. There are no bookstores.
It IS full of light, and a great place for walking – groups meet up at the Avenues purely for walking, and then usually for a cup of coffee afterwards.
So, in conclusion – it’s huge. Positives: It’s light and airy. It’s great for fitness walking in Kuwait’s heat. It’s a good place to meet up with friends, great central location. Negatives: it’s just another mall, just bigger. Not a destination.
What would make a mall that interested me more? A Sephora that truly had the entire range of make-up products that European and USA Sephoras carry. A really good household department with high quality sheets and towels, and well made clothing in beautiful fabrics. An Eddie Bauer. A Clearwater Creek. A Barnes and Nobles. A couple Indian furniture shops. A L’escharpe. A jewelers/gold souk with ALL the major jewelers in Kuwait. A perfumers souk. Some really good local food places.
What about you? What would you like to see in a mall?
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I want malls demolished, they are the work of Satan!
“There are no bookstores.” Can you believe that?!
I hate the Avenues, it’s a waste of space. Too big for its own good. The shops constitute like 15% of the entire area, AND the design is bleh
Its gender biased , 43 women exclusive shops against 3 men’s . I’d rather stick to Good old Fanar Complex, and Avenues is so huge , i get bored half the way .And its way too far from the glitter of Salme Al Mubarak Street .
You know me – in the interest of fairness, I needed to show my friends and family in other places that Kuwait is not all picturesque souks and beautiful sunrises. There are malls. I kinda go ho-hum in the US, too.
Let’s import Cordova Mall! *evil grin*
There’s a larger mall under construction off the 6th Ring. Dunno if you saw how big that place is.
I’m with you, R! Cordova Mall! Best Buy! World Market! Macy’s!
Oh? ANOTHER mall?? Yeh, well we really need another mall!
What I’d like to see more of in Kuwait malls is tourists, diversity of people flocking to malls : whites, blacks, browns and various shades of….err, pink.As for the stores there’s no way they are going to get a Borders or a Barnes & Nobles anytime soon. So why make a wish!?
Why not make a wish, A.N? Doesn’t cost me anything! I can wish! I’ve seen amazing things happen, and part of amazing things happening can be a belief that they CAN happen.
So, I also wish there were more other places to flock, not malls.
Good points. I’m just curious about how they manage to keep up with the air conditioning
It seems pretty inefficient, all that space . . . a/c.
The Avenues is GREAT….Its the best and largest mall in the MIDDLE EAST…Its just half done…Give it some time…And Kuwaiti people dont like to read, Barnes and Noble wouldnt work in Kuwait and who needs Barnes and Noble and Eddie Bauer? We got Starbooks and Debenhams…
Welcome TopKnife – and I am betting you spend a lot more time at Avenues than I do!
i agree that Avenues is great…. But…… i searched for toys in Avaneues. i couldn’t findout the toy that i have searched for and that same toy got from an another shop in kuwait. So…..
Shams – I never shop there! It’s a very boring mall, to me, except for one or two shops. Kuwait has some great places to shop; the malls are not that great.
i think this mall is a great one actually! its big and every thing you need to shop for you’ll find there. Its a lot of help! and he design is great as well!
Invisible – most of what is sold at The Avenues is irrelevant to me. There are a couple stores I like, but, like for example the new Sephora – they don’t for me have the full array of brands, and they don’t have the two I like the best. Mostly, The Avenues is only good for long walks in an air-conditioned environment when the temperatures are steaming outside. Oh, and Ikea if you need bookshelves or Christmas ornaments! And the Moroccan shop, cool stuff. Other than that, the merchandise looks tired to me.
Can anyone tell me why you can’t take a picture in the Avenues Mall? I was standing in front of a fountain taking pics of my friend…no stores in the background and was approached and told no pictures…
Trust me it will be a snowy day in Kuwait before I ever go back to this mall.
Winterfire, it is the policy in most malls, so you don’t accidentally take a photo of a woman.
Now I would normally buy that comment… but it was first thing in the morning… there was no one but me and my friend… both of us women….and we were in front of a big wall of a fountain…and if you look at the pic of the avenues mall at the head of this forum….what do you see… a pic of the insides of the Avenues Mall with women in it!!!!!!!
Yeh! But I have been stopped by guards at Marina Mall, at Al Kout Mall – when I am only shooting like light fixtures! Sometimes they stop you, sometimes they don’t. My motto is “take the spank” – I always give it a try. Sometimes I ask. Usually the answer is yes.
hey…i want to see the decor shops of avenues mall…can anybody post some pictures of decor shops..plzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz
Naila – I have seen some shots by bloggers doing reviews of specific shops or locations. Do you know the Safat aggregator? You can find many (not all) of the Kuwait Blogs by clicking on Kuwait blogs, above, in my blogroll.
Hi all! I am looking for secret shoppers for a couple of locations in this mall. If you are interested and want to know more, please email me at chopkins@emailsinclair.com. We pay you to shop! Yea!